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Employment Law September 2019
Welcome to our September e-bulletin. There is still time to book on to our Essential Employment Law Seminars in October, looking at upcoming legal challenges for employers - see below for further details. We also have our more in depth employment law training courses coming up in September and October - again, see below for further details. Innes Clark This month we are also looking at:Whether an employee's right to privacy was breached when he was dismissed due to material found on his phone How to correctly calculate holiday pay for term time workers Should employers audio record disciplinary hearings? The Court of Appeal considers whether an agency worker was entitled to the same hours of work as a permanent employee Tattoos in the workplace New legislation, consultations and guidance - single enforcement body for employment rights and ill health related job losses Workplace wellbeing - our regular look at mental health and wellbeing in the workplace Our regular look at employment law in the news In our Blog of the Month, Alan Delaney looks at what employers can learn from the first GDPR fines You can download our free Employment Law App MF HR Mobile for both Android and iPhone. This includes calculators for unfair dismissal awards, maternity pay and statutory redundancy payments, as well as key employment law facts, figures and fingertip guides. It also includes this monthly eBulletin. If you have any questions on the content of this ebulletin or if you would like to discuss any other employment issue then please contact innes.clark@morton-fraser.com on 0131 247 1181 or lindsey.cartwright@morton-fraser.com on 0141 274 1141.
Essential Employment Law Seminars We will be running our latest essential employment law seminars in both our Edinburgh and Glasgow offices in October - "Upcoming legal challenges for employers - what you need to know". There are some significant employment law developments coming up, as well as consultations about potential new legislation, including:a new right to request workplace modifications on health grounds for all employees (not just employees who are "disabled" under the Equality Act) enhanced redundancy protection for pregnant employees and those on family leave changes to the law on harassment changes to gagging clauses update on Brexit and existing employees changes to IR35 This seminar will explain what these changes and proposals might mean for your business, enabling you to be one step ahead in preparing for any potential consequences and allowing you to assess any potential risk areas before they arise. The dates for the seminars are:8 October at 5.30pm in our Edinburgh Office, and 9 October at 8.30am in our Glasgow Office The seminars will last approximately one hour, including questions and answers, with an opportunity for networking before and after. Registration will take place from 5:00pm for a 5:30pm start for the evening seminar in Edinburgh and 8:00am for an 8:30am start for the breakfast seminar in Glasgow. Please click on the links above to book Read More
Morton Fraser - Employment Law Training Keep up-to-date with the key legal requirements and best practice in the workplace saving your organisation time and money. Our high quality training courses are designed for business owners, directors, HR professionals, line managers, in-house lawyers and finance team members seeking an understanding of, or an update on, specific selected areas. The maximum group size is 20 delegates to allow for scenarios and questions. We will confirm attendance for CPD purposes. Coming up in September and October:Immigration & employment training Join the Head of our leading immigration team, Stuart McWilliams, for this half day training course on immigration & employment. Between 1 October 2018 and 31 December 2018, the Home Office issued fines of nearly ÂŁ8 million to employers who had breached right to work rules. A single, first time offence, will attract a minimum fine of ÂŁ15,000. With Brexit approaching, EU nationals will need to register with the Home Office in order to be allowed to continue to work in the UK and as a result employers face an increased risk of immigration law breaches and penalties. This half day course will cover: common mistakes when carrying out right to work checks techniques to ensure that your procedure protects you from Home Office fines employing workers from outside the EU and complying with an employer's duties to the Home Office practical tips on how to engage with your existing EU workers and monitor registrations under the Settled Status scheme how future recruitment from the EU will work Discrimination and harassment training
Join our training programme leader, Karen McGill, for this half day training course on discrimination and harassment. In this course we will cover: the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 different types of discrimination recent cases and Employment Tribunal awards practical tips and red flags when recruiting, managing and dismissing the reasonable steps defence and how to ensure that you can argue it cascading training down through the workforce recent cases Managing employees (sickness absence) training Join our training programme leader, Karen McGill, for this half day training course on managing employees with sickness absence issues. In this half day course we will look at how best to manage short and long term sickness absences including:sickness absence during the probationary period effective sickness absence policies effective return to work interviews how to get the most out of GP and OH reports tricky issues when dealing with disabilities and the need for reasonable adjustments annual leave during periods of sickness protected conversations: when and how to have them employee well being practical tips recent cases For details of how to register and costs click below:Read More
Employee caught out by evidence found on his own phone The European Court of Human Rights rejected an argument that an employee's dismissal breached his right to privacy under ECHR Article 8. Read More
Holidays for term time workers should not be subject to pro-rata reduction The latest case on holiday pay will have implications for many employers in the education sector. Read More
Opinion Piece - Should employers audio record disciplinary hearings? Which is better, an audio recording or hand written minutes? Read More
Agency Workers Regs do not require equality of hours The purpose of the Regulations is to ensure the principle of equal treatment, but not to the extent of guaranteeing hours of work. Read More
Are Tattoos becoming more acceptable in the workplace? Body art has become the norm for many, but are employers keeping up with the trend? Read More
New Legislation, Guidance & Consultations Two significant consultations have been published in the last month. Read More
Workplace wellbeing Our regular look at mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. Read More
Employment law in the news In our regular slot we look at the key cases and other employment law issues that have made the news headlines over the past few weeks. Read More
Blog of the Month Don't forget, you can keep up to date with all our blogs and content in the Knowledge hub. In our blog of the month, Alan Delaney looks at what employers can learn from the first GDPR fines. You can also follow Innes on Twitter.
Employment Law Guide & Employment Timeline
To see our Brief Guide to Employment Law in Scotland, England and Wales, click here. For details of upcoming changes in employment law, see our Updated Employment Law Reform Timeline.
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Employment Law Fact Card
Our Employment Law Fact Card is full of useful information for employers including disciplinary and redundancy checklists, Employment Tribunal award limits, family friendly leave entitlements and national minimum wage rates. If you would like a hard copy of our free Fact Card please email us at employment@mortonfraser.com with your name and postal address and we will send it on to you. Alternatively, you can access an electronic version here. You can also find lots of useful employment law information on our free iPhone app which is available to download from the App Store. For further details and a link to the download see: MF HR Mobile - Our Employment Law App
"...the app is gorgeous, very well designed with great functionality and looks." - Legal IT insider (ww.legaltechnology.com)
Employment Law Support for your Organisation How we can help Clear employment law advice from one of the leading employment teams in Scotland. More Law Society accredited specialists than any other team in Scotland Clear, pragmatic, cost effective, legally privileged advice Fixed fee packages available (including Tribunal awards insurance, if required) A highly professional and responsive service‌very approachable and always easily contactable Chambers and Partners. Contact innes.clark@morton-fraser.com to find out more. Employment law training We offer a practical series of employment law courses covering key employment law and related HR issues including:Disciplinary and grievance issues training Managing employees (Performance) training Managing employees (Sickness Absence) training Discrimination and harassment training Employment Tribunal Procedure and Witness Familiarisation training Immigration & Employment training GDPR: the practical day to day skills you need to know in the workplace For further information please contact Innes Clark on 0131 247 1181 or at innes.clark@mortonfraser.com A little more help The information contained in our Factcard, and much more, can also be accessed via our Employment Law app. Search for MFHRMobile at the App store or Google Play. If you don't already subscribe then contact us at employment@morton-fraser.com to receive our monthly employment law updates. As well as providing updates on key employment law developments, our monthly e-news also provides details of free employment law seminars that we run throughout the year. For further information please contact Innes Clark on 0131 247 1181 or at innes.clark@mortonfraser.com.
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